About us

A band of misfits, we put the ‘human’ first in everything we do. We’re a different kind of company and we take pride in our authenticity, diversity, and culture of inclusion.

Explorance

Explorance, a Learning Journey Analytics provider, supports organizations in making the right decisions with fact-based feedback data. Through its Blue suite of products, Explorance is at the heart of the learning organization's continuous improvement strategies. By helping organizations assess needs, expectations, and competencies, they can analyze with the full picture in mind and monitor improvement over time.

Founded in 2003, Explorance is a privately held corporation headquartered in Montreal, Canada with business units in Asia-Pacific (APAC), Europe, and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Since 2014, Explorance has been consecutively ranked as a top employer by the Great Places to Work Institute®. Explorance's clients include a wide variety of learning organizations from various segments including academia, consulting firms, government institutions, and corporations across the globe.

Meet our management team

It’s not unusual to see a member of our management team volunteering for a charity, supporting education through mentorship, or contributing to the arts. Committed to the core values that make our culture truly special, each member of our management team leads by doing rather than saying.

Samer Saab

Founder & CEO

Samer Saab

Chief executive officer

Samer is the founder and CEO of Explorance with over 22 years of experience in the technology industry. Prior to founding Explorance, Samer developed a wide perspective on business through a variety of roles in diverse organizations including Bombardier, Nortel, Sycamore Networks, and Nakisa. Samer participates in a wide range of philanthropic activities that focus on his two passions: entrepreneurship and learning. He provides grants, acts as a mentor, participates in the McGill Dobson Cup, and sits on the Foundation Montréal Inc. Board of Directors. Through speaking engagements, grants and endowments, and by participating in the Members of Technology and Innovation Management Expert Panel, Samer is able to share his dedication to lifelong learning. Samer holds a degree in Engineering and an MBA from McGill University.

Marc Lamy

CFO

Marc Lamy

Chief financial officer

Before joining Explorance as Chief Financial Officer, Marc was president of his own consulting practice - MLC Finance. Prior to this Marc was CFO of iBwave Solutions, a software company that was acquired by Corning in 2015. Before iBwave Marc was part of the corporate finance group of Deloitte, working with clients to provide M&A, financing, and advisory services. He also served as CFO for technology companies, including Wysdom, Lyrtech, and Cognicase which he helped bring public on NASDAQ and the TSX in 1997 and where he supervised the acquisition of 18 companies. Throughout this period, he also served as a board member for Ixiasoft Inc., Micro-Intel, Accovia, Lyrtech, Mindready Solutions, Cognicase and most recently - Devolutions and Explorance. Marc holds a Masters in Finance from HEC in Montreal, an Engineering degree from École Polytechnique de Montréal, and holds the CFA designation.

Charles Assaf

CRO

Charles Assaf

Chief revenue officer

As Chief Revenue Officer, Charles is responsible for running the global business operations of Explorance. Charles has significant experience in scaling enterprise software businesses. He was previously the GM of ORSYP Canada, where he was responsible for establishing and leading the expansion of the business until its acquisition. While at Automic Software, Charles headed a worldwide synergy function enabling Automic to become a global pure-play leader in the business automation market until its acquisition by CA software. Charles holds a Bachelor of Engineering degree from McGill and a Masters of Engineering degree from MIT. He is involved in various charitable organizations and currently sits on the Board of Directors of the Foundation of the Montreal Museum of Fine Art.

Jonathan Lapierre

CTO

Jonathan Lapierre

Chief technology officer

As the Chief Technology Officer, Jonathan oversee Explorance’s overall product portfolio and leads the effort to develop a long-term technology strategy for the company. Jonathan has long been a respected leader at Explorance and in High Tech roles with more than 18 years’ experience spanning software architecture, business intelligence, app creation, infrastructure improvements, and web applications. Prior to Explorance, Jonathan was CTO and co-founder at Thoransoft. He has accumulated many years of experience in banking software and Business intelligence, working for companies like CGI, Cognicase, TechSolCom, CSSST, and Roy & Bourassa. Jonathan studied Computer Science and holds a Database Model Certification from the Computer Research Institute of Montreal.

Yeona Jang

EVP, CPEG

Yeona Jang

Executive vice president of community & strategic initiatives

Dr. Jang leads the Bluenotes user community, product expertise, and customer governance initiatives at Explorance. She also leads Explorance’s effort to advance interoperability standards for learning analytics in Higher-Education. Prior to Explorance, Dr. Jang taught technology and innovation at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University, where she still continues her research as an adjunct professor. She has also held executive positions at Samsung, Citibank and PSEG. She holds a BS in Computer Science and Statistics from Seoul National University and a MS and Ph.D. in Computer Science from MIT. She also earned a MS in Business Administration from the MIT Sloan School of Management. Dr. Jang currently volunteers to help provide access to education to girls in developing countries.

Samer Jaffar

Chief Customer Officer

Samer Jaffar

Chief Customer Officer

As Executive Vice President of Customer Loyalty at Explorance, Samer is responsible for all international business operations in the APAC, Europe, and MENA regions. Samer has been at Explorance for over 10 years serving in various roles including business development, sales, and global customer loyalty. Prior to Explorance, Samer worked in various roles at Matrox, Nortel, Cyrus, and Ciena. He holds an MBA from the Faculty of Commerce and Administration as well as a Bachelor of Computer Engineering from Concordia University.

Shadi Khader

VP, Customer Support

Shadi Khader

Vice President of Customer Support

As the Vice President of Customer Support at Explorance, Shadi uses his expertise to lead global support, deployment and integration services, hosting operations, product engagement, and education services. Before joining Explorance in 2011, Shadi worked at several technology companies including Vantrix, Natural Convergence, Simpler Networks, Innovance, and more. Shadi began his career as a Systems Engineer with Nortel Networks and holds a B.Eng. in Electrical Engineering from Concordia University. At Explorance, Shadi is viewed as the ‘Thinker’.

Ian Haugh

VP, Business Development

Ian Haugh

Vice president of business development

Ian Haugh is the Vice President of Business Development at Explorance. After helping build the reseller and sales channels at Lightspeed Point of Sale, Ian moved to the education technology industry in 2013 to make a greater social impact. His current projects include leading Explorance’s world-wide partnership relationships as well as European market development. Ian completed his Honours Bachelor in Business Administration (HBBA) from Wilfrid Laurier University and his post graduate degree in Nice, France.

Miltiadis Vadrahanis

VP, Professional Services

Miltiadis Vadrahanis

Vice president of professional services

Miltiadis Vadrahanis is the Vice President of Professional Services at Explorance. He has a 30 year background in leading high performance teams, 15 of which were in the software industry. Milt’s career is backed with a degree in Internet Programming/Systems Analysis from CDI College (Gold Achievement Award) and a BA in Economics from Concordia University, along with a certificate in International Leadership and Organizational Behaviour from Bocconi University and a certificate in Managing Social and Human Resources from Wharton School of Business.

Tim Brennan

GM, Asia-Pacific

Tim Brennan

General manager of Asia-Pacific

Tim Brennan is the General Manager of Explorance, Asia-Pacific. Based in Melbourne, Australia, Tim is leading the rapid growth of Blue users and the Explorance office in that region. Prior to joining Explorance Tim was the Senior Manager of Survey Services Centre at RMIT University, Australia's largest tertiary institution where he was responsible for the administration and reporting of student feedback across all global locations. Tim has experience working in Government, Higher Education, and the Vocational Education sector with a background in statistics and strategic planning. Tim holds a Master’s degree in Applied Social Research from Monash University.

Our Journey

2003

founded

Explorance is born. During this year we were a team of 3 who did it all.

2004

first office

Our first office was two and a half rooms located at 1650 Maisonneuve.

first customer

We landed our first Blue customer: First Federal Savings Bank of Kentucky.

2008

focus on higher education

We fine-tuned our mission and shifted our focus to the higher education market.

2011

new offices

The official inauguration of Explorance’s new offices was in June of 2011. Since then we have 8x more space.

2012

100 customers

Blue went global with 100 customers using the software to power their evaluations.

2013

no policy

Implemented our “Zero” Policy based on a culture of Free-will.

10 year anniversary

We celebrated our 10th year with our employees, families, and customers.

first bluenotes conference

Explorance supported the first Bluenotes Conference that took place in Australia – a meet and greet event for Blue users.

2014

open APAC offices

To increase our services in the APAC region we opened an office in Melbourne Australia.

10 million students

Our products have impacted the lives of 10 million students across the globe.

2016

thoransoft

We acquired Thoransoft Inc., a developer of customized business software applications.

100 employees

We are 100 strong. 100 unique lovers of technology and education. 100 Explorers from all corners of the world.

2018

it's all happening here!

Community always comes first

We always strive to be the best company we can be for our people, our customers, and the community. That’s why we take responsibility and try to be aware of the impact of our actions – beyond the workplace.

We are fortunate to partner with higher education institutions, government organizations, and corporations who share our concerns and values.

Drop us a line! We’re happy to help.

You’re one step away from your customized demo!

Explorance Privacy Policy

Explorance is dedicated to protecting the data our customers entrust to us. This Privacy Policy outlines in clear and simple terms our approach to information security and data protection. It has recently been expanded to meet and exceed the requirements for the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and continues to uphold the regulations of other countries and states.

Our Privacy Policy governs both our products and our Sales & Marketing practices. We have separated these two topics on this site to make it easier for you to find the information you are looking for. In both cases, we describe what information we collect, how it is used, our lawful basis for this usage, how we keep it secure, and your rights and the rights of all users of our products and services.

Terms and Conditions

Our Terms and Conditions page establishes the use, disclaimers, and limitations of liability governing the use of our website. By using our site, you consent to these terms and conditions and to our online Privacy Policy.

Sales & Marketing

What information do we collect? We collect information from you when you register on our site, subscribe to our newsletter, respond to a survey or fill out a form. Additionally, we use Google Analytics to track website usage metrics. When requesting information or registering on our site, you will be asked to enter your name, e-mail address and/or phone number. You may, however, browse our site anonymously.

How do we use this information? The information we collect from you may be used to respond to a request for more information, personalize your experience, improve our website and customer service, and send you periodic emails such as newsletters, company news and related product information. All such email communications from Explorance will offer the option to opt-out of any similar notifications.

What is the lawful basis for using this information? The primary basis is known as “legitimate interests”, that is, we have a good and fair reason to use your data and we do so in ways which do not infringe on your rights and interests. The second basis is to support our contractual obligations with our customers.

How is your data kept secure? We use world-class software systems to securely store all information collected from our website and other sources related to Sales and Marketing. As well, Explorance has several internal data security policies and programs, including a Direct Marketing policy, an Information Security and Data Protection Policy, a Breach Notification Policy, and a company-wide security awareness training program. These policies are reviewed on a regular basis by our data protection governance team.

Is your data shared with third-parties? Information collected on our website is stored in secure systems and is accessed only by authorized personnel. No information collected through our website is sold to or shared for use by third parties. However, we may release your information when we believe it is appropriate to comply with the law, enforce our site policies, or protect our or others rights, property, or safety.

What are your rights? In addition to the right to know how your data is used and who it is shared with (which is covered above), your rights include the right to know what personal information we have collected, the right to receive a copy of that data, the right to make corrections, and to request that it be deleted. For all such requests, please contact your account manager or send an email to privacy@explorance.com. We’ll be happy to address any concerns you have and assist in any way we can.

Products and Services

What information do we collect? The set of personally identifiable information is defined by our customers (aka “controllers”), and is typically demographic data associated with the recipients of evaluations and surveys provided by our products.

Additionally, we collect and store certain types of information through passive collection tools, such as cookies and encrypted authentication tokens. Cookies are small text files placed on your computer which our products can retrieve later. If analytics are enabled, additional information may be collected such as fillout channel, type of browser and device, IP address, and operating system. Our products provide the option to use third-party analytics tools such as Google Analytics.

How do we use this information? The information is processed as requested by the customer, which is typically reporting results from evaluations and surveys. Cookies and analytics data help us understand how you use our products, so that we can improve your user experience.

What is the lawful basis for using this information? We process the data at the request of our customers, under contractual obligations which comply with local legislation.

Is your data shared with third-parties? No information collected through our products is shared with third parties without the explicit consent of an authorized customer representative.

What are the rights of end-users of our products? It is the responsibility of the customer to inform their end-users of their rights and to uphold those rights. That being said, Explorance’s products and services will support you in every way possible.

Right to be informed – Our products support customized messaging that can be used to inform your end-users.

Right to access and to data portability – Authorized administrators can extract the requested data from our products.

Right to correction – Authorized administrators can update data as required in all of our products.

Right to erasure – Personally identifiable data can be made anonymous upon request.

Right to restrict processing – Authorized administrators can disable processing by closing off tasks or updating profile information.

Right to object – This process is defined by individual customers as required by local legislation.

Rights related to automated decision making including profiling – Our products do not process data in this manner.

Explorance is committed to a world-class standard of information security and will update its policies and products as global regulations evolve.

This Privacy Policy may be updated from time to time. Please revisit this page periodically to ensure you’re aware of any changes.

This Privacy Policy was last updated on May 25, 2018.

Terms of Use

These terms and conditions govern your use of this website. By using this website, you accept these terms and conditions in full. If you disagree with these terms and conditions or any part of these terms and conditions, you must not use this website.

License to Use Website

Unless otherwise stated, Explorance and/or its licensors own the intellectual property rights in the website and material on the website. Subject to the license below, all these intellectual property rights are reserved.

You may view, download for caching purposes only, and print pages or other content from the website for your own personal use, subject to the restrictions set out below and elsewhere in these terms and conditions.

You must not:

republish material from this website (including republication on another website);

sell, rent or sub-license material from the website;

show any material from the website in public;

reproduce, duplicate, copy or otherwise exploit material on this website for a commercial purpose;

edit or otherwise modify any material on the website; or

redistribute material from this website [except for content specifically and expressly made available for redistribution]

Acceptable Use

You must not use this website in any way that causes, or may cause, damage to the website or impairment of the availability or accessibility of the website; or in any way which is unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful, or in connection with any unlawful, illegal, fraudulent or harmful purpose or activity.

You must not use this website to copy, store, host, transmit, send, use, publish or distribute any material which consists of (or is linked to) any spyware, computer virus, Trojan horse, worm, keystroke logger, rootkit or other malicious computer software.

You must not conduct any systematic or automated data collection activities (including without limitation scraping, data mining, data extraction and data harvesting) on or in relation to this website without Explorance’s express written consent.

You must not use this website to transmit or send unsolicited commercial communications.

You must not use this website for any purposes related to marketing without Explorance’s express written consent.

Restricted Access

Access to certain areas of this website is restricted. Explorance reserves the right to restrict access to areas of this website, or indeed this entire website, at Explorance’s discretion.

If Explorance provides you with a user ID and password to enable you to access restricted areas of this website or other content or services, you must ensure that the user ID and password are kept confidential.

Explorance may disable your user ID and password in Explorance’s sole discretion without notice or explanation.

No Warranties

This website is provided “as is” without any representations or warranties, express or implied. Explorance makes no representations or warranties in relation to this website or the information and materials provided on this website.

Without prejudice to the generality of the foregoing paragraph, Explorance does not warrant that:

this website will be constantly available, or available at all; or

the information on this website is complete, true, accurate or non-misleading.

Nothing on this website constitutes, or is meant to constitute, advice of any kind.

Limitations of Liability

Explorance will not be liable to you (whether under the law of contact, the law of torts or otherwise) in relation to the contents of, or use of, or otherwise in connection with, this website:

for any indirect, special or consequential loss; or

for any business losses, loss of revenue, income, profits or anticipated savings, loss of contracts or business relationships, loss of reputation or goodwill, or loss or corruption of information or data.

These limitations of liability apply even if Explorance has been expressly advised of the potential loss.

Exceptions

Nothing in this website disclaimer will exclude or limit any warranty implied by law that it would be unlawful to exclude or limit; and nothing in this website disclaimer will exclude or limit Explorance’s liability in respect of any:

death or personal injury caused by Explorance’s negligence;

fraud or fraudulent misrepresentation on the part of Explorance; or

matter which it would be illegal or unlawful for Explorance to exclude or limit, or to attempt or purport to exclude or limit, its liability.

Reasonableness

By using this website, you agree that the exclusions and limitations of liability set out in this website disclaimer are reasonable.

If you do not think they are reasonable, you must not use this website.

Other Parties

You accept that, as a limited liability entity, Explorance has an interest in limiting the personal liability of its officers and employees. You agree that you will not bring any claim personally against Explorance’s officers or employees in respect of any losses you suffer in connection with the website.

Without prejudice to the foregoing paragraph, you agree that the limitations of warranties and liability set out in this website disclaimer will protect Explorance’s officers, employees, agents, subsidiaries, successors, assigns and sub-contractors as well as Explorance.

Unenforceable Provisions

If any provision of this website disclaimer is, or is found to be, unenforceable under applicable law, that will not affect the enforceability of the other provisions of this website disclaimer.

Indemnity

You hereby indemnify Explorance and undertake to keep Explorance indemnified against any losses, damages, costs, liabilities and expenses (including without limitation legal expenses and any amounts paid by Explorance to a third party in settlement of a claim or dispute on the advice of Explorance’s legal advisers) incurred or suffered by Explorance arising out of any breach by you of any provision of these terms and conditions, or arising out of any claim that you have breached any provision of these terms and conditions.

Breaches of These Terms and Conditions

Without prejudice to Explorance’s other rights under these terms and conditions, if you breach these terms and conditions in any way, Explorance may take such action as Explorance deems appropriate to deal with the breach, including suspending your access to the website, prohibiting you from accessing the website, blocking computers using your IP address from accessing the website, contacting your internet service provider to request that they block your access to the website and/or bringing court proceedings against you.

Variation

Explorance may revise these terms and conditions from time-to-time. Revised terms and conditions will apply to the use of this website from the date of the publication of the revised terms and conditions on this website. Please check this page regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version.

Assignment

Explorance may transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with Explorance’s rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions without notifying you or obtaining your consent.

You may not transfer, sub-contract or otherwise deal with your rights and/or obligations under these terms and conditions.

Severability

If a provision of these terms and conditions is determined by any court or other competent authority to be unlawful and/or unenforceable, the other provisions will continue in effect. If any unlawful and/or unenforceable provision would be lawful or enforceable if part of it were deleted, that part will be deemed to be deleted, and the rest of the provision will continue in effect.

Entire Agreement

These terms and conditions constitute the entire agreement between you and Explorance in relation to your use of this website, and supersede all previous agreements in respect of your use of this website.

Law and Jurisdiction

These terms and conditions will be governed by and construed in accordance with Quebec law, and any disputes relating to these terms and conditions will be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of Quebec.

About These Website Terms and Conditions

These website terms and conditions are based on a free Contractology precedent available at www.freenetlaw.com.

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